Andrew Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., which owns the Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s brands.
He doesn’t agree with major hikes to the minimum wage, such as President Barack Obama’s $10.10 per hour for federal employees.
However, the Labor Secretary pick has said that he isn’t against “raising the minimum wage rationally.”
Puzder’s argument against minimum wage increases is that it would leave many people in low-income areas jobless.
He has also spoke out against Obamacare and claims the rising premiums are causing a “government-mandated restaurant recession.”
Puzder is also against political correctness and says he likes his company’s ads with scantly-clad women eating burgers.
He helped draft a Missouri law in 1989 that made the majority of abortions at public establishments illegal.
Puzder is on the International Franchise Association’s board and stands against many of President Obama’s recent regulations.
It is likely that he will work as Labor Secretary to undo some of the regulations that the Obama Administration has pushed through in the last few years.
CKE Restaurants employs roughly 75,000 employees in the United States and 100,000 across the world.

“Andy Puzder has created and boosted the careers of thousands of Americans, and his extensive record fighting for workers makes him the ideal candidate to lead the Department of Labor,” President-elect Donald Trump told The New York Times. Read

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is the newest Trump team pick from President-elect Donald Trump.

Scott Pruitt is the Trump to pick to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.) Here are 10 things to know about him.

He is a major opponent standing against Climate Change claims.
Pruitt has been a strong ally to oil and gas companies.
These efforts include taking on a group of Democratic attorneys general that are investigating Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) over its approach to Climate Change.
He has fought President Barack Obama on environmental regulations.
His time as head of the EPA will likely see him reducing the regulations put in place by the current President of the United States.
Environmentalists are already asking the Senate to deny his selection, but this is unlikely due to it being under the control of Republicans.
It is possible that Pruitt’s legal background may even help Trump completely dismantle the EPA.
He previously ran a legal office named Christian Legal Services that fought government for individual rights.
Pruitt grew up in Kentucky, but left to go to law school in Oklahoma.
He first ran for the Oklahoma Attorney General position in 2010.

“Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind,” Scott Pruitt said in an interview obtained by The New York Times. “That debate should be encouraged — in classrooms, public forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime.” Read

Gov. John Kasich has warned his state’s citizens that Ohio is on the verge of a recession.

Recent tax receipts show that the state’s revenue has been experiencing a steady decline and they are below estimates. State revenue is 3% lower than estimates, or $259 million.

November total tax revenue came in $99 under estimates, or 5% less than expected. Income taxes were more than 10% lower than expectations, while revenue was $88 lower, or 4.7% less than expected in October. Read

President-elect Donald Trump is expanding the Trump team with former rival Dr. Ben Carson as his Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Here are 10 things to know about Ben Carson.
Carson was raised by his mother after she split from his father when he was eight years old due to the father practicing bigamy.
He claims that he tried to stab another person when he was 14 years old, but that the boy’s belt buckle stopped the blade.
Carson claims this led him to three hours of prayer and a better understanding that his anger was a weakness.
He became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins when he was 33 years old.
This made him the youngest person to ever act as the head of a major division in the history of the hospital.
Previous reports claim that Carson turned down an offer to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the Trump team.
According to those reports, Carson turned down the offer due to his inexperience at running a federal agency.
He let it be known that he would have a role as a member of the Trump team last Wednesday.
Carson is a strong opponent to social welfare programs and claims they cause citizens to become dependent on the government.
He has been critical of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society agenda, which raised the role of HUD Secretary to a Cabinet position.

He is a retired military general.
Mattis led the United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013.
President Barack Obama pulled him from Iran because he believed he was advocating war too much.
Mattis has been critical over how Obama and his administration handled the start of its war against ISIS.
He is also against letting Russia expand into the Ukraine and Syria.
Mattis does not believe that torture works.
His radio call sign during the invasion of Iraq was “Chaos.”
He will need approval from Congress to serve as secretary of defense.
This is due to a law that prohibits the secretary of defense from having actively served in the last seven years.
If Congress approves Mattis, it wouldn’t be the first time that such an exemption was made.

You would think some VP of communications somewhere would read my columns from time to time, so they could encourage senior management never to speak on any political topic, or even mention a political issue indirectly.

The reason is that it guarantees that 40% to 50% of the country will disagree with the issue or opinion under discussion, and boycott that company’s products. Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) angered many Americans by wading into the transgender bathroom fray on April 19. Despite the company’s assurances that a retaliatory boycott really really didn’t harm sales, how could Target actually determine whether the 1.4 million people who pledged to boycott the company did or didn’t follow through? Read

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